inspiring your next success! ® company confidential - copyright 2008 hitachi consulting 1 work plan...

Inspiring Your Next Success!® Company Confidential - Copyright 2008 Hitachi Consulting1

Work Plan Development

Or answering the question:

“So . . . what do we do now?”


Today’s Agenda

> Converting Project Charters into Work Plans

> Creating a Work Breakdown Structure – The “Nouns”

> Break

> Creating an Activity List – The “Verbs”

> Next Steps


Work Plans

Work Plans identify sequenced activities that

must be completed to fulfill Project Charter contents

Project Charter

Work Plan


Converting Charters into Work Plans

1. From the project charter and scope statements, create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

2. From the WBS, identify the activities needing completion

3. From the activity list, develop a network diagram, identifying the sequence of activity completion

4. From the network diagram, develop a preliminary project schedule and assign resources

5. Iterate the above with key stakeholders until acceptance (a set of baselines) is agreed upon.

You

Your WBS

Our Focus Today


The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

> The WBS = your “Nouns”

» WBS = The work being delivered

» Hierarchical representation of work elements needing completion—deliverables themselves or deliverable components

» Single most important tool in scope definition, scope control, and communications

» What about a ‘survey’?


The Noun Workshop

> Goal

» Develop hierarchical definition of the project (30 minutes)

» “Divide and conquer”

> Materials:

» Sticky notes, tape, and pens

» Wall or desk

> You’ve gone deep enough in the hierarchy when:

» Bottom level work—the work package level—requires ~ 4 total hours to complete

» And/or adequate planning and control is achieved


Tips for Creating the WBS

> Start with the major work of the project first (top down)—e.g. deliverables» This is level 1, then proceed downward; this level establishes the framework for the entire

project so be smart here

» Figure out if the project is analogous to something else and cherry-pick the approach to the project

• Use the Internet or other available expertise

> If you’re tempted to think at the activity level (bottom up), that’s ok» Find a common theme to multiple activities, then convert to one or more nouns

> Start an Open Items log now

> No “Gold Plating”» Make sure to complete the work necessary to achieve the level of scope, quality, time and

cost expected, no more and no less

> 100% Rule» Child elements within a single parent element should represent 100% of the work

envisioned in the parent

> Continually ask: “What work is missing”?

> All projects should include “Project Management” as a Level 1 work package

Start Now(30 minutes)


WBS Template

Today

Consider completing and summarizing results before the next customer meeting


Break


The Activity List

> Activities = your “Verbs”

» List of things to do to complete the work packages

» Feeds into activity sequencing (network diagrams), scheduling, and resourcing process

» Have durations, owners, and specified outputs

» An activity should not be performed within your project unless it is specified

Note: Activities are defined only at the lowest level of the WBS


The Verb Workshop

> Goal

» Capture as many project activities as possible (30 minutes)

> Materials:

» Sticky notes, tape, and pens

» Wall

> Reminder: Activities should be placed only below the lowest level of your WBS

=


Tips for Activity Definition

> Look Out!!

» You will likely find a need for additional WBS elements through the activity definition process

» All activities must fit logically into the WBS

> Identify good opportunities to insert major milestones, which are defined as zero-duration activities

» Indicates that a major block of work has been completed. Milestones are also good status reporting mechanisms when talking to customers

> Consider strongly the role that quality and risk should play in activity definition

> Update your Open Item log with issues

> Exclude incidental or trivial activities

Start Now(30 minutes)


Activity Template

Today

Consider completing and summarizing before the next customer meeting


Next Steps

> Ensure that today’s WBS and activities have numbers assigned

> Finish this exercise to completion before next class

> Scope Iterations» Complete the first version of the WBS and Activity List as a team

» Share WBS and optionally the activity list with customer to confirm scope

» Re-define scope until complete

> Schedule Iterations» As scope is progressively elaborated, continue to add appropriate activities

» Use activity definitions to sequence activities (network diagrams)

» Apply the concept of “critical paths”

» Keep an eye out for new WBS or activities that might crop up

» Assign dates and owners to activities

» Share schedule (milestone-level) w/customer

» Re-define until complete

> Lock down scope and schedule; manage risk, quality, and change aggressively

Alignment is everything

inspiring your next success! ® company confidential - copyright 2008 hitachi consulting 1 work plan...

Documents

work plans work plans

work necessary

major work

hitachi consulting

work breakdown structure

work plan development

project charters

project management